1. Ricci’s Character on Chasing Life Has Cancer

Ricci plays the role of April Carver on new show Chasing Life. April is a fun and beautiful woman who finds out she has cancer, but she’s not going to let that stop her in life. E! News interviewed Ricci and she opened up about her character:

One of the best things about Chasing Life is that it’s a show about a girl who’s living life, but it just has a little side of cancer. Cancer doesn’t have to take over your whole world and that’s something that April goes through in deciding not to let it have the power that it could.

Chasing Life is based on the Mexican telenovela Terminales and premieres tonight at 9:00 p.m. on ABC Family.

2. Many Know Ricci from the Movie Don Jon

Ricci co-starred in the movie Don Jon, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut. In the film, she plays the hilarious character Gina. Other movies and projects Ricci’s appeared in include American Pie Presents Beta House, Unnatural History, and Secret Girlfriend.

3. Robbie Amell Is Ricci’s Boyfriend

Like Ricci, Robert Patrick Amell is a sexy Canadian actor. The two have been dating since 2009 and Amell has had a successful career on television. You may have seen him on TV shows including The Tomorrow People, Life With Derek, Revenge, Pretty Little Liars, and True Jackson. In an interview with Zap2it, Ricci discussed the success of her relationship with Amell and both of their careers.

We’ve been together for a while, so it wasn’t like we were establishing a relationship while both being crazy-busy. “We were both so happy for each other that things happened for us at the same time. A lot of times, when one person in the couple is working and the other isn’t, it can create … not tension, but the other person might just be like, ‘Why can’t I work?’

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4. Her Boyfriend’s Mother Helped her Get a Grasp on Her Role as Someone With Cancer

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Ricci’s boyfriend Robbie Amell is also brother to Stephen Amell of the TV show Arrow. In order to help her understand her role on Chasing Life a little better, Ricci sat down with Amell’s mother to get some insight. Ricci told The Hollywood Reporter:

Stephen Amell, who’s on Arrow — his mom is a breast-cancer survivor, so when I started filming my chemo scenes, I sat down with her and she was amazing in telling me what it all physically felt like. I was bawling, of course, but she’s so strong and she helped me so much in those episodes. We haven’t written any single stories around anybody in particular, but there have been moments that have come [out of them]

5. “Fatty” Is One of Ricci’s Nicknames

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While most girls would dump a guy for calling her “fatty,” Ricci’s boyfriend likes to call her that word and she’s totally cool with it. As for other nicknames she has, she tells E!: My boyfriend calls me Fatty.

I don’t know why, he just does! [Laughs.] In high school I was called Reech, Tals and one of my friends calls me Mom.